


The Story of How Hard We Tried

by fromthechaos



Category: The Wicked Years Series - Gregory Maguire, Wicked - All Media Types, Wicked - Schwartz/Holzman
Genre: Elphaba/Galinda, F/F, Flashbacks, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2004-07-04
Updated: 2004-07-04
Packaged: 2018-10-15 07:37:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10552552
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fromthechaos/pseuds/fromthechaos
Summary: Takes place during the song “For Good,” the thoughts running through Elphaba’s head as she realizes she must go to her doom are merely flashbacks of her love affair with Glinda the Good.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Mixed Book/Musical-verse. Based on the song "Both Hands" by Ani DiFranco.  
> This is from my old LJ Community, originally posted July 4, 2004.

I embraced Glinda tightly, resting my emerald cheek against her hair of spun gold.  She sobbed softly against my chest. “Elphie, I don’t want you to do this… You can escape, you can run away with me, they’ll never find you!”  
  
“No, Glinda. I can’t run away this time. I have to face my fate, but this isn’t your time. I will see you again some day, in this life or another, I will.” I pulled back, kissing her soft, smooth, ivory forehead, rocking her gently to calm her down.  
  
_I am walking_  
_out in the rain_  
  
The day she told me she loved me was a rainy day. I was holding my Shiz blazer over my head, running back to Crage Hall from the Library, cursing every puddle I stepped in as it splashed up my stockinged legs. When a shadow fell over me, causing the offensive droplets to stop pelting me, I turned around. Galinda (as she was known then) was standing behind me with a pink umbrella over my head. “What are you doing, Galinda?” I half shouted over the loud pitter patter of the rain.  
  
“If I let you shrivel to bits out here in a thunderstorm they might make me room with someone even worse. Besides… you aren’t really that bad. You are my roommate after all. I have to look out for you,” she beamed, her curls, though slightly damp, bounced with the sheer energy of her brilliant smile.  
  
“How thoughtful,” I said sarcastically.   
  
Glinda grinned, bumping her hip against mine. “Oh, Elphie… you aren’t bad at all. In fact… Um…” She blushed, handing the umbrella to me before leaning in to kiss me on the cheek. She pulled away, blushing and ran off towards our dormitory. I stood in shock, the green girl holding a pink umbrella watching the most popular girl at Shiz flee.  
  
_and I am listening to the low moan_  
_of the dial tone again_  
 _and I am getting_  
 _nowhere with you_  
 _and I can't let it go_  
 _and I can't get through..._  
  
That night I let her make me over. Truth was, I’d had a crush on her for weeks only I thought she was like every other girl… a mindless drooling drone who wanted only to get in Avaric, Fiyero, Crope, and Tibbet’s pants. But the kiss changed everything. Sure, as far as I knew it could have only been a friendly peck on the cheek to her, but to me it was a window opening. Unfortunately, the only way I could think of to get her to open up with me honestly was to have a… girls night in, something I’d prided myself on never having done before but what it led to… was pure bliss.  
  
_the old woman behind the pink curtains_  
_and the closed door_  
 _on the first floor_  
 _she's listening through the air shaft_  
 _to see how long our swan song can last_  
  
Galinda insisted on “sharing secrets” before she would do the makeover. There was an awkward silence as lips were bitten and hair was twirled.  We told little petty secrets; Galinda has a perm it’s not naturally curly, I have two romance novels, that sort of thing. Galinda twisted her fingers together after about two rounds of nonsense and blurted: “I’m in love with you.”  
  
I stared at her confused and opened my mouth to tell her my secret when the door opened and Ama Clutch hobbled in from the late night card game that the Amas of Crage Hall hold. She murmured her goodnights and closed her bedroom door, pulling the thick pink curtain over the little looking window meant for her to keep an eye on us. Galinda looked at me, her eyes wide with fear and anxiety. I’d never seen her look scared before, especially not of this sort of thing. I smiled and brought a hand up to her head, running my fingers slowly through her thick curls, “It’s okay, Galinda. I… I really like you too.” My hand slipped around behind her head, cradling it gently as I leaned in and pressed my soft green lips against her flushed pink ones.  That night both of us made secrets together, doing things we’d only done together in our dreams and fantasies and wondering if maybe we should have been a bit quieter so that Ama Clutch wouldn’t hear us.  
  
_and both hands_  
_now use both hands_  
 _oh, no don't close your eyes_  
 _I am writing_  
 _graffiti on your body_  
 _I am drawing the story of_  
 _how hard we tried_  
 _I am watching your chest rise and fall_  
 _like the tides of my life,_  
 _and the rest of it all_  
  
Over the next few weeks, my favorite thing to do had become spending time with Galinda. Her friends didn’t get it, but then, her friends didn’t get a lot of things, the least of which were my feelings for their beautiful friend. One day in particular that sticks out to me was a warm day in the spring. I was working on a painting for my art class, something that was required and not taken by choice. Galinda was laying on her bed in just a silk housecoat, quieter than usual.  I looked over at her and swiped at her nose with the green on the tip of my paint brush. She giggled but didn’t protest so I stood from my easel and picked up the green and black tubs of paint, walking over to Galinda. I pushed her robe off and slowly ran my green brush over her delicate cheek bones, working it down her neck until half of her face, neck, shoulders, and chest were green. She shivered at the cold but said nothing still so I smiled. I took up my black brush and slowly painted my name on her fair, unpainted flesh.  I then spelled out the word **loves** in flowing, flowery letters across the median of ivory and emerald. G-A-L-I-N-D-A swirled around her left breast, dotted with a star over her nipple. She smiled and reached up, gently pulling me towards her to place a soft kiss on my lips. I kissed over the paint and skin, whispering gently against her, “Elphaba loves Galinda.”  
  
Galinda rolled me over so that I was laying down and slowly unbuttoned my smock, pulling it off.  She tugged my simple black shirt over my head and unhooked my brassiere.  I shrugged it off, laying back as she dipped a brush into the pink paint, painting a wide petaled flower beside my eye and over my cheek. She dotted a trail of pink along my jaw and over my neck and down to my chest where she wrote **Galinda loves Elphaba, too**.  I watched her do this with much concentration. Her wet, pink tongue clamped in the corner of her mouth as her breathing slowed to an almost unseen swell and fall of her chest. I smiled and she kissed me again and we curled together on the bed.  
  
_and your bones have been my bed frame_  
_and your flesh has been my pillow_  
 _I am waiting for sleep_  
 _to offer up the deep_  
 _with both hands_  
  
And just last night… The night that broke my heart because I knew it would be our last together. Glinda burst through the front gates of Kiamo Ko as if the flames of the badland fires were burning behind her.  Tears streaked her beautiful face as she stood in the courtyard sobbing my name. Thank Lurline Sarima and her sisters were gone or they would have thought she was crazy. But Glinda was crazy. Crazy for loving me, that was for sure. I took her in my arms and bade Liir to keep watch for the four diplomats sent by the Wizard. I took her to my chambers where we made love one last time. She fell asleep, weary from travel, tears and taboo. I laid my head on her chest and watched her sleep, unable to sleep knowing that the next day… today… could well be the last time I saw Glinda the Good.  
  
_in each other's shadows we grew less and less tall_  
_and eventually our theories couldn't explain it all_  
 _and I'm recording our history now on the bedroom wall_  
 _and when we leave the landlord will come_  
 _and paint over it all_  
  
I sat on the bed early this morning as the first light of dawn broke over the eastern horizon. In the distance I could see the rag-tag caravan approaching, still miles away in the barren Winkie hills.  I leaned over, picking up a piece of stone that had crumbled away from the walls some time ago and carved into the hard stone of the wall **The magic of love will live on forever. FAE + GLIN**. I blinked as tears burned down my cheeks, no longer caring if it hurt or not. No pain I could feel then would prepare for what I would face later. What I face now.  
  
_So now use both hands_  
_please use both hands_  
 _oh, no don't close your eyes_  
 _I am writing graffiti on your body_  
 _I am drawing the story of how hard we tried_  
 _hard we tried_  
  
I kissed Glinda's forehead gently, ushering her out of sight to where Chistery could keep her safe and prayed that perhaps the plan Fiyero had sent me would work and one day we may be reunited again. But only time will tell and so I offered my life to the child. With both hands.  
  
_how hard we tried_


End file.
